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Image: EXPA/REINHARD EISENBAUER (APA/EXPA/REINHARD EISENBAUER)
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Image: EXPA/REINHARD EISENBAUER (APA/EXPA/REINHARD EISENBAUER)
LINZ. The 32-year-old will be missing from Sunday’s Bundesliga away match against Austria Vienna.
Thomas Darazs played for Austria Wien for 18 years. He joined at the age of six and left the club for Ried as a Bundesliga professional at the age of 24. For the LASK coach, the away game against Favoritner is a trip down memory lane. “It’s a special game for me, one hundred percent. Why should I deny that it’s a special game for me?” asked the 47-year-old.
He explained how, as academy coach at Admira Wacker, he had particularly encouraged his teams against Austria. “It’s not always about winning in the academy – but against Austria it was important to me.” Just like on Sunday with LASK in the Bundesliga.
Photo: Hans Klaus Techt (APA)
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Photo: Hans Klaus Techt (APA)
At Austria, Darazs was brought up to enjoy playing. The technically fine style was the philosophy of the “Veilchen”, which has been somewhat lost. As a coach at LASK, he now wants to see this enjoyment of the game and the courage to find playful solutions. At the moment, too many mistakes are being made.
“A very annoying goal conceded in the first half, a very uncontrolled game from us in the second half,” said the coach, explaining the 1:1 draw in the first leg of the Europa League play-off against FCSB Bucharest. After taking the deserved lead, the athletes made the opponent stronger by losing the ball, and the Romanian champions punished one of the too many mistakes in the build-up play in injury time in the first half. Darazs: “If we believe in something, why should it be any different when we’re under stress? The game is no different in the 46th minute than it is in the 48th or 38th.”
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As in the 1:2 defeat against Altach, LASK lost control after conceding a goal over an opponent that they had previously had completely under control. During the Bundesliga defeat, Darazs said that his team had to learn resilience. After the first leg of the play-offs, that was not an issue for him. “I specifically looked to see whether they had knocked us off our feet in the second half. The tackle rate is over 60 percent for my boys. They put up resistance accordingly.” Against Altach, the final score was 61 percent.
“It wasn’t a highlight”
“We played very well for the first half hour, then we invited the opponent with a mistake,” said defense chief Philipp Ziereis. “It wasn’t a highlight,” said goalkeeper Jörg Siebenhandl. The players’ self-criticism and disappointment were signs of their awareness that they can improve – and must do so on Sunday against Austria Vienna and on Thursday in the play-off return match in Bucharest. Darazs: “It’s almost positive for us that the 1:1 seemed so extremely bad.”
The 1:1 draw against FCSB Bucharest hurt LASK for several reasons. As feared, Robert Zulj broke his nose and underwent surgery, and Tobias Lawal had to sit out the warm-up because of a thigh injury. Jörg Siebenhandl was a very good substitute, with Fabian Schillinger taking a seat on the bench as reserve goalkeeper. The 17-year-old was not even listed on the match report.
In any case, the captain and number one will be out against Austria, and there is little hope for the return match against FCSB on Thursday in Bucharest. In Zulj’s case, it depends on how quickly the swelling subsides whether playing with a mask will theoretically be possible.
More on the topic
LASK lost 1:1 against FCSB goalkeeper Lawal and captain Zulj
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